It’s rare for a filmmaker to publicly take a shot at one of the most successful franchises in Indian streaming history, but Tigmanshu Dhulia didn't mince words. Speaking to Zoom while promoting his latest film Ghamasaan, Dhulia criticized the Mirzapur universe for presenting a version of the Hindi heartland that is "heavily exaggerated" and detached from the ground truth. He drew a sharp line between the fictional chaos of the Tripathi family and the actual socio-political texture of the region.
Dhulia's argument isn't just about crime; it's about geography. He insists that treating North and Central India as a monolith is a lazy storytelling choice. "The Hindi heartland is not just one location," he explained, pointing out that Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan are vastly different. He cited American cinema as his inspiration, noting how specific locales there act as characters in their own right. For Dhulia, Ghamasaan is an attempt to map these distinct identities rather than relying on a generic "crime belt" aesthetic.
When pressed on specific examples, Dhulia zeroed in on the logistics of violence. "Katte ban rahe hain, arms ban rahe hain, aise nahi bante hain," he said, translating to the observation that weapons aren't manufactured in the open, chaotic manner depicted in the series. He added that the "complete lawlessness" shown on screen simply doesn't exist in that form. Interestingly, he singled out Gangs of Wasseypur as a project that felt "closer" to the reality he is trying to capture.
This critique lands in the middle of a massive commercial run for the franchise. Mirzapur, created by Karan Anshuman and Puneet Krishna, has become a cultural phenomenon, with the recent theatrical release of Mirzapur: The Movie crossing the ₹300 crore mark globally. The film stars Pankaj Tripathi and Ali Fazal, with new additions Ravi Kishan and Jitendra Kumar expanding the criminal empire. While Dhulia’s view is a contrarian one, it highlights the tension between the heightened, operatic style of modern crime dramas and the grounded, regional specificity that defines a different strand of Indian filmmaking.
Dhulia’s own entry into this space, Ghamasaan, is a crime drama set against the backdrop of the Hindi heartland, following a dacoit and an IPS officer. The film, which stars Pratik Gandhi, Arshad Warsi, Rajpal Yadav, and Ishita Dutta, released on ZEE5 on September 11. Whether viewers will side with Dhulia’s vision of a fragmented, specific heartland or stick with the high-octane, exaggerated drama of Mirzapur remains to be seen, but the debate has certainly added a new layer to the conversation around the franchise.